The Hidden Terrors of Love in the New Thriller, "Keeper"

Here is a little nugget of wisdom for future movie characters dreaming of a serene weekend escape with their loved one in 2025: do not go. Revert the car. Return to the urban jungle. It's a disaster waiting to happen when you pull up to a secluded hideaway, exchanging flirty jokes and sweet gazes with a sense of foreboding about your not-yet-stable relationship. It becomes quite clear very quickly that charming country houses are the perfect settings for Heterosexual Horrors, a type of horror that feeds on social norms and presumptions about love and relationships. This has been the case in "Oh, Hi!", "Companion", and it holds true in "Keeper", the latest visually engaging but narratively weak thriller from distinguished director Osgood Perkins.

In "Keeper", we meet a couple, Liz (Tatiana Maslany) - a free-spirited artist -and Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) - a polished doctor. After dating for a year, Liz is ecstatic about Malcolm, but he doesn't yet know her well enough to not present her with an unattractive beige cardigan, something his artist girlfriend would never select for herself. But Liz brushes off Malcolm's poor fashion choice especially when he shows her his exquisite holiday property, equipped with magnificent furniture, wall-to-wall windows, and an exceptional decor curated by production designer Danny Vermette.

However, there's a big warning sign that only the audience can witness. The film begins with a series of clips of women from different ages and places appearing cheerful, followed by frowning, glaring, and then screaming in terror. These indistinct vignettes can be telling about the fate Liz may meet later, creating a sense of foreboding. Upon arrival, Liz feels something isn't quite right. She notices an unassuming cake box and displays an unneeded level of anxiety. She tries to ignore this discomfort just as she endures an unexpected dinner visit from Malcolm's coarse cousin, Darren (Birkett Turton), and his mute Eastern-European model date, Minka (Eden Weiss).

The world in "Keeper" is suffocatingly small, confined to the cabin and its immediate surroundings. Liz is often the only character on the screen. The longer she stays in the house, the more she is tormented by possible visions of other women, unusual supernatural beings, and unsettling dreams. She moves in a haze, comparing it to being on magic mushrooms.

Liz's fast descent into surreal experiences makes her disconnected as a protagonist. Given the script by Nick Lepard (Dangerous Animals) which confuses more than clarifies, Keeper's plotline seems faint despite Maslany's solid performance. The film may seem more like a disquieting dream sequence tied together by cinematographer Jeremy Cox's enchanting yet creepy shots. Even when the clarifications fall short, the imagery resonates. It mesmerizes with its strangeness, and like other supernatural thrillers, offers no disappointment when the horror is revealed. While love in remote wood cabins may not be the best idea, "Keeper" assures some new terrors lurking in one of those basements.